Sri Lanka’s nationwide lockdown was briefly lifted on Saturday as new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made first his cabinet appointments after nine people were killed amid protests between pro and anti-government groups.
The newly-appointed PM urged the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader to leave aside party politics and join hands with him to form a non-partisan government to resolve the ongoing economic crisis.
Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Saturday appointed four members of the ruling party to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s Cabinet, including G L Peiris as the Foreign Minister.
Here are the top developments from Sri Lanka
🔴 India will be supplying 65,000 metric tonnes of urea to Sri Lanka to avoid any disruption in paddy cultivation. The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in New Delhi, Milinda Moragoda, met with the Secretary of the Department of Fertilisers, Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi, in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss the supply of urea required for the current Yala cultivation season in Sri Lanka, PTI reported.
Morogoda thanked Chaturvedi for his personal involvement in arranging necessary approvals and logistics to supply urea to the country. In response, Chaturvedi said that his Department is always ready to support Sri Lanka in keeping with India’s ‘neighbourhood first’ policy and that the department is making arrangements to ship the required quantity of urea from the nearest port to Sri Lanka through a State Company coming under his purview.
🔴 Sri Lanka’s ruling SLPP party announced that it was extending support to new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has just one seat in Parliament, to help him prove a majority in the House.
“We have political differences with him, but he is known as someone with international support to pull this country out of the economic problems we are facing,” S M Chandrasena, a former minister and a senior leader of the ruling party, said.
🔴 Wickremesinghe inducted four ministers into his Cabinet on Saturday, including G L Peiris as the Foreign Minister. Dinesh Gunawardena has been sworn in as the Minister of Public administration, Prasanna Ranatunga as the Minister of Urban Development and housing and Kanchana Wijesekara as the Minister of Power and Energy, PTI reported.
Previously, Peiris served as Foreign minister in the former Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Cabinet.
🔴 In a letter addressed to the leader of the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), PM Wickremesinghe urged the party to leave aside party politics and join hands with him to form a non-partisan government.
In the letter, Wickremesinghe invited the SJB to support the joint effort made by them to immediately resolve the burning issues faced by the people and also to stabilise the country economically, politically and socially by obtaining foreign assistance.
